Black Friday, a promoted sales day following Thanksgiving, set off the beginning of the winter holiday season in a frenzy with door-buster sales, stocked shelves and doors opening at the strike of midnight.
English teacher Stephanie Shackelford shops on Black Friday because it happens to fall on the most convenient day for her. Shackelford shops on this day every year.
“We plan out what we want to buy everyone, and we set a budget of what we are going to spend,” Shackelford said. “Most of the time we get all of our Christmas shopping done that day.”
With the shorter shopping season, retailers are expected to lose $1.5 billion in potential online sales, according to a report released by Adobe Digital Index.
The term Black Friday wasn’t originally made to describe the shopping until the 1960s. The term was originally created by the Philadelphia Police Department to describe the traffic problems, such as congested streets, on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
According to Retailers began using the term in the 1980s saying retail suffered from financial issues for most of the year and earned big profits on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving used to be the last Thursday of the month, until president Theodore Roosevelt changed the date to the fourth Thursday of the month.
In 2011, more than 226 million people shopped on the day after Thanksgiving; that’s more than the number of people who voted that year. According to Statistic Brain, $52 billion were spent on Black Friday weekend that year. The amount spent increased to $59.1 billion in 2012. The number of online and in stores shoppers also increased. The average customer spent around $423 in 2012 while the difference from the average amount spent per person in 2011 was $398. Online shoppers spent a grand total of $1.042 billion on Black Friday 2012.
“You need to get lots of sleep,” sophomore Alex Corpus said. “Black Friday shopping means fighting people for a couple of things at 3 a.m.”
Instead of fighting endless crowds, prepare for next Black Friday. Here are a few tips:
Get lots of rest. Getting rest helps prepare for standing in long lines. You need enough energy to trudge off that Thanksgiving dinner you just ate a couple of hours ago.
Know what you’re looking for so that you don’t waste any time. Before you go out, know what you’re interested in. Look at sale ads and be aware of what you are shopping for.
Be safe. Keep it to the sidelines whenever possible. Only go in when you can get in and out as easily as possible. You don’t want to come out with a new TV and a broken arm.
Dont fight for it. You dont want to end up like those people who get arrested, tasered pepper sprayed, trampled on, or even beaten up just for a pack of batteries that you needed for your new device.
Prepare yourself for the worst. You might not find what you’re looking for or you might just witness something awful, such as a fight.
Be grateful. Have gratitude for what you’re coming out with. It might not be something you wanted in the first place, but at least you didn’t come out empty handed.
“We do this because there’s so much going on at the holidays that there isn’t time to do any more shopping,” Shackelford said. “We save money because we stick to our christmas list and stick to our budget.”
